Deputy Director Appointment for AMAF and VAC

Qaseem Ali Uqdah, Executive Director of the American Muslim Armed Forces and Veteran Affairs Council (AMAF and VAC) announced today his selection for Deputy Director Br. Abdul-Rashid Abdullah.

Abdul-Rashid is a veteran of the United States Army. He entered into service near the end of the First Gulf War in October of 1991. Already a new revert to Islam he experienced Basic Training, Airborne School, and Advanced Individual Training as a Muslim. This experience introduced him to the special challenges Muslims have while serving in the United States Armed Forces. His duty stations included Fort Sill, OK, Fort Benning, GA, Fort Lee, VA, Fort Bragg, NC, Schofield Barrkacks, HI and Hickam AFB, HI. His career as a Parachute Rigger provided him an opportunity to work with some of the most elite forces of the US Armed Forces.

In 1998, he became a veteran. He is married now and has four children.

He is no stranger to this effort having begun working with the early pioneers as far back as 1992. His first duty station was at Fort Bragg, one of the larger Muslim communities. Fort Bragg serves as home to the Special Operations community as well as to the Airborne, an experience that made a lasting impression on the young soldier.

Abdul-Rashid was one of first participants in the official Islamic Lay Leader Training conducted by AMAF and VAC, the first sponsored hajj program for US Service Members, and the first commissioning ceremony for a Muslim Chaplain in the US Armed Forces.

He is probably best known for his role as Moderator of MMMnet, which served as a unique discussion email list for members of the US Armed Forces prior to leaving the service. In the past, he has maintained the AMAFandVAC.org and MuslimMilitaryMembers.org websites.

Over the many years, Br. Abdul-Rashid has been a faithful personal advisor to Br. Qaseem and a consistent supporter of AMAF and VAC.

Br. Qaseem has given him two main goals to focus on initially:

To advance the spiritual unity and cohesiveness amongst American Muslims in the U.S. Armed Forces.

To mirror the commitment other authorized endorsing agencies from various faith groups have for their Chaplains and Lay Leaders.

There are of course several other goals that the AMAFandVAC is striving towards, however by focusing efforts on these first two goals, we hope to build a foundation on which other goals will be more easily obtainable and sustainable.

If you have any questions, please contact Br. Abdul-Rashid or Br. Qaseem Ali Uqdah. Br. Qaseem kindly asks that you extend to Br. Abdul-Rashid the warm courtesy you have shown to him over the years.